Is a Vegan Lifestyle God’s Will for Humankind?

"I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole
earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be
yours for food.

And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and
all the creatures that move on the ground - everything that has
the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food." And it
was so. (Gen 1v29,30)

There can be no doubt that in God’s perfect world, all living creatures were
created as vegans, except humankind, they were created in God’s image, so
their
diet was more stringent; seeds and fruit, a fruitarian diet, a diet that did
not even kill
plants.

In the Garden of Eden God declared that all he had created was good.
Would you expect anything else from a perfect, loving God?(Mt5v48 & 1Jn4v17)
However, humankind disobeyed God and was thrown out of the Garden of Eden
but
did humans evolve into carnivores?

A VIVA Nutritionist comments:

Standard Western dogma describes humans as omnivores (they eat everything!). It's true, many people choose to
eat meat,
but the way our bodies are made suggests that we have evolved eating fruits,
nuts,
grains and vegetables.

Next time someone insists we are designed for meat ask if they fancy
chewing up a mouse... fur,. bones, teeth an' all – that's what a real
carnivore does.

When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us.
While
carnivores take pleasure in killing animals and eating their raw flesh, any
human
who killed an animal with his or her bare hands and dug into the raw corpse
would
be considered deranged.

Later on in the Bible, Isaiah describes God’s future Kingdom.

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down
with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie
down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah11v3-9)

This passage describes God’s future Peaceable Kingdom. In his kingdom
none of God’s creatures (inc. humankind) will harm or destroy.

As in the beginning, a vegan lifestyle is “God’s will” for not only humankind but all of his creatures. God’s future Kingdom will also be free of
cruelty and
violence. What will be the main reason for this change to a non-violent
world? A greater understanding of the character of God (His image) and this
better understanding was first taught by Jesus Christ.

Why do Christians use the Bible to justify immoral and unethical behaviour?

To many Christians the Bible alone, has all the answers. But the Bible, like
all inspired scriptures is an amalgam of divine inspiration and
all-too-human
intrusion. There is justifiable doubt about the accuracy of the Bible’s
translation
from Hebrew to Greek and then to English. There is also much confusion as to
how
you should interpret the Bible. Is the Bible infallible, or do we need to
identify
“divine inspiration” from “human manipulation”. Do Christians need some
guiding
principles to direct their understanding?

In Star Trek, star fleet commanders are bound by a standing order not to
interfere in the natural development of alien civilisations. This order is
called “the
Prime Directive” and overrides every Star Fleet command. Always the Prime
Directive reigns supreme. It is the ultimate guide to conduct. There is no
exception.

Jesus has given Christians a Prime Directive to help us distinguish God’s
message from human prejudices and passions. Unfortunately, Christians do not
use
this Prime Directive when interpreting the Bible. However, both Judaism and
Christianity teach that a virtuous life stands upon two pillars: love for
God and love
for one another (Deut6v5, Lev19v18 & Matt22v34-40).

"`Love the Lord your God..... and `Love your neighbor as yourself.'
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matt22v37-40).

In both Jewish and Christian traditions these two commandments rule
supreme. Any interpretation that contradicts these two commands cannot
represent
divine inspiration. This approach is supported by Pope John Paul ll who
stated:

Any interpretation of the Bible that contradicts a rational understanding of God’s goodness and mercy is incorrect.

To assist our understanding, Christ did all he could to divert our attention
from the letter of the law (what is written), and direct our attention to
obeying the
spirit of law (the basic principle). In brief: Get the spirit of what I am
telling you
and then try to apply it in the ever changing circumstances of life ; I am
not giving
you a rule of thumb for every possible contingency. I am giving you
intelligence, I
am giving you free will, and, above all, I am giving you of My Spirit; take
and use
all these to discover the true character of God. This principle is almost
completely
ignored by the average Christian.

Jesus himself has confirmed this approach to scripture by telling us that
his
instructions were not complete and that he has more to teach us through the
Holy
Spirit.

"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But
when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.....
and he will tell you what is yet to come. (John 16v12,13)

The written word alone (the Bible) can never tell you what you need to
know in every future circumstance you find yourself in. The Bible does not
contain
all that Jesus wanted to teach us, this will only be made known to us when
we “need
it” or are “ready to receive it”, via God’s small voice, the holy spirit. So
any
Christian who ignores the Prime Directive and states that the Bible is all
he needs
to understand God, and further more, that the Bible is infallible, is either
under a
delusion, or only using the Bible to justify his own desires rather than
God’s.

For example, Christians who use the Bible to justify their cruelty and
violence towards God’s other creatures, can also use the Bible to justify
Hitler,
ethnic cleansing and rape. (Num31v7, Num31v17,18, 1Sam15-33) ? There are at
least 12 occasions on which we are told that the Israelites, presumably in
obedience
to God’s command, exterminated in cold blood the entire civilian populations
of
towns or tribes whom they had defeated in battle. Are we really to believe
that the
God of love and compassion, described elsewhere in the Bible, ordered these
atrocities?

Also, why should Biblical verses that appear to show divine approval of
animal abuse set an everlasting precedent while passages showing divine
approval
of the murder of men, women and children do not? Christians cannot justify
animal
atrocities on the authority of the Bible unless they are also willing to
justify present
day human atrocities on the same basis. When Christians insist on doing that
they
worship a God who is alien to the teachings of Jesus and therefore the prime
directive.

God said to Job: "Would you condemn me in order to justify yourself"
(Job40v8)? I believe that many Christians are prepared to condemn God in
order to
justify their unnecessary lust for meat.

So how should Christians obey the prime directive to “Love God”?

God is the deity who has everything, so there is nothing we can give God.
We can only love God by loving all that he has created. If we truly love
God’s
creation, we will nurture it, comfort it and care for it. The “dominion” or
“stewardship” that the Bible tells us God has given us over the other living
creatures, is simply an opportunity to love God by protecting and nurturing
God’s
creation.

Because sentient creatures have been created with the ability to suffer,
they
need protection and nurture as individuals. The life of a cow is just as
precious to
the cow as our lives are to us. We show our love for God when we decline the
urge
to have the cow killed just to satisfy our desire to eat his flesh. When the
cow is
killed to provide a luxury diet for us, we show disrespect for his creator.
The test of the morality of an act is never it’s benefit to the perpetrator,
but always
the effect on the victim.

We can express our love for God by preserving and healing the world that
God has given us and this can only be done by obeying God’s commands. John
tells
us: "This is love for God: to obey his commands." (1John5v3)

How should Christians obey the second prime directive to “Love our
neighbour as our self”?

We all have the natural tendency to do everything in our power to avoid
suffering and find happiness for ourselves. This is what it means to “love
yourself”.
It is an urge bred into every creature. To love your neighbour as yourself
means to
place their interests on a par with yours and to do everything in your power
to
alleviate their suffering, and promote their happiness, as energetically and persistently as your own.

Who is our neighbour

Throughout the ages the greatest advance in ethical thought has been our
understanding of who our neighbour is. Once, neighbour only meant family,
then it
was tribe, then nation and then in enlightened circles humanity. In the 21st
century,
it is now obvious that to have a sustainable world it is imperative that we
recognise
that neighbour means all sentient beings.

In Genesis 2v7 and 2v19, the Bible tells us that at creation God gave us the
same “living soul” Nephesh Chayah, (pronounced nephesh hi-yah). In so doing
God gave animals a nervous system, a brain able to process physical and
emotional
feelings, pleasure and pain, in ways similar to ours. By doing this God made
animals our neighbour.

It is not location or sharing a common humanity that describes our neighbour. It is possessing the same living soul and sharing the ability to
experience
suffering and joy. All that share with us the divine spark of a conscious
life, given by God, is our neighbour and fall under the protection of the commandment to
love
our neighbour as we love ourselves.

However, understanding who our neighbour is, splits Christianity into
“human centred” Christians (anthropocentric), and “creation caring
Christians”
(Theocentric). If “Human centred” Christians insist that your neighbour only
refers
to humankind, you can demonstrate quite easily that even if that were so,
eating
meat in this overpopulated, finite world, is still immoral, as it takes food
away from poor and hungry human beings, damages the environment and therefore the well
being of future generations of humankind.

So a Christian’s moral responsibility towards the rest of God’s creation,
will depend on whether they obey the Prime Directive to “love God and
neighbour”,
or embrace a “self centred” attitude. And this will influence how Christians
1) view
themselves, 2) use the Bible, and 3) act.

1) How do Christians view themselves?

• Creation caring Christians consider themselves a part of creation,
that to be made in God’s image implies a responsibility towards all of
God’s creation, either as Stewards or Servant Kings.

• Human centred Christianswill claim that being made in God’s image puts them above creation which was designed to serve mankind
alone, giving them the right to use and abuse it.

2) How do Christians use the Bible?

• Creation caring Christianswill be guided by the Holy Spirit and
use the Bible to discover God’s attributes and then use that knowledge
to become God’s Ambassadors, by applying as far as humanly possible, God’s moral attributes of justice, goodness and mercy.

• Human centred Christianswill use the Bible as a ‘manual of moral
absolutes’ relying on isolated passages rather than guidance by the
Holy Spirit, to excuse their immoral treatment of God’s creation.

I Quote: There is a similarity between the campaign to end slavery and
that for animal rights - both are entirely altruistic in that those who
fight them stand to gain nothing if they succeed. They are born out of
a desire for a better, more equitable, more just world where relieving
the suffering of others is an end in itself. Both are noble, both are born
of the finer aspects of the human spirit and both are opposed by
bigotry, spite, ignorance and self interest. Surely no one would argue
that the world is not a finer place because most slavery has ended. And
one day, that judgement will be applied with equal certainty to the end
of animal exploitation.

• Human Centred Christians will guard vested interests by rigidly
following a selfish faith, where dominion means domination and
might is right. Even though Jesus told his disciples:

You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it
over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not
so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must
be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For
even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give
his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10 v 42 - 44)

Between these two groups is the vast majority of Christians who, due to the
stresses of providing for their families prefer the status quo. They are not
knowingly
blind to the violence and cruelty they impose on the poor, God’s creatures,
and the
damage they are doing to the environment. However, due to increased concern
and
exposure in the media, “not knowing” is no longer an acceptable excuse, and
the
time is now right to raise their awareness. Our hope lies in reaching the
hearts and minds of these Christians and by reminding them that Jesus wants us to
follow his
teaching rather than just being his fans”.

We need to convince Christians that once they are aware of the damage
their lifestyles are doing to God’s creation, that going vegetarian/vegan is
not only
one of the greatest contributions they can make to solving our problems but
one of
the easiest. Why the easiest? Because it does not take up anymore time, cost
anymore money and will improve their heath. Anyone can do it, the young, the
old,
the rich, the poor and even the sick. God’s perfect diet for humanity is the
most
healthy diet you can adopt. To say otherwise is to accuse God of providing
us with
an imperfect diet. What arrogance.

I believe that the hierarchy of the church is slowly moving away from a
“human centred” doctrine and towards a “creation caring” gospel. Most of the
major denominations have now published “creation caring” declarations, and
are
considering the introduction of doctrine and liturgy that will embrace God’s
creation. We must welcome this move and encourage its adoption and use this
powerful
opportunity to promote a vegetarian/vegan diet throughout the church.
Eventually
isolating those “human centred” Christians who refuse to change. Caring for
God’s
creation gives us a wonderful opportunity to work with other faiths. All the
major
faiths encourage us to obey the Golden rule which is also proclaimed by
Jesus:

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for
this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matt7v12)

In summary, if we follow the Bibles teachings on “love for God” and “love
for neighbour” to their natural conclusion, we will respect the right of
animals to
live their lives according to the natures with which God endowed them, free
from
interference by us. Dr Humphrey Primatt an Anglican Priest put it this way:

Pain is Pain whether it be inflicted on man or beast . And the creature
who suffers it, being sensible to the misery of it, whilst it lasts, suffers
evil.

And we who inflict it, inflict evil.

The Moral Approach

Christians will always find a Biblical passage or verse to repudiate your
line of reasoning. If we are going to have any chance of converting a
Christian to a
vegetarian/vegan diet, we must only use the prime directive. That Christians
are
called to have love and fellowship: love for God and his creation and love
for our
neighbour.

I recommend that vegetarians/vegans approach Christians with moral rather than Biblical reasons. To illustrate this point, a couple of months ago I
was
discussing vegetarianism on the United Christian Broadcasting programme “The
big Discussion”. It was an hour long phone-in programme and in the first
half hour
I based my reasoning on the Bible. During this time UCB received many phone
calls/emails. According to the presenter, many who disagreed with my
comments
were too nasty to read over the air.

I then changed my tactics and used moral reasons why Christians should consider a plant based diet, the number of calls/emails reduced
considerably. By
removing any reference to the Bible from my argument, dissenting Christians
could
no longer challenge my reasoning. We must learn from this.
Vegetarians/vegans
will stand a much better chance of interesting Christians, if they base
their argument on the powerful moral reasons they have for following a plant
based diet:

1. To avoid violence and cruelty to animals

Over 50 Billion animals a year are cruelly treated and killed to satisfy our
unnecessary desire for meat and dairy. Why unnecessary, we do not need meat
in
order to survive, all vegetarians/vegans are living witnesses to that fact.

2. To feed the Hungry

Globally, we feed 756 million tons of grain to farmed animals/year. If we
fed that grain to the 1.4 billion people who are living in abject poverty,
each of them
would be provided with more than half a ton of grain, or about 3 pounds of
grain/day -- that's twice the grain they would need to survive.

3. To heal our world (Environmental degradation)

United Nations report “Livestocks Long Shadow states: Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale and its potential
contribution to their solution is equally large. The impact is so significant that
it needs to be addressed with urgency.

4. To maintain a healthy body (our Health)

A few years ago a Lay Preacher told me “he would die” if he gave up
eating meat? This ignorance or denial of the truth prevails today in every
walk of
life. The World Health Organisation tell us that vegetarian cultures live
healthier
and longer lives and going vegan is even better. However, please remember
that for
most of us, reducing our meat consumption was our first step and Veganism,
our
ultimate goal. To have any chance of success we must encourage Christians to
take
one step at a time.

To conclude

God has given humanity a high road and a low road, and the
freedom
to choose. And so the issue becomes, why—even if it may be permitted in
their
minds—would anyone who is trying to reflect God's love and compassion onto
the
world want to eat meat, eggs, or dairy. The raising and slaughter of animals
for food
and fabric causes intense physical pain, emotional distress, and premature
death to
billions of animals worldwide and as more nations are becoming affluent this
number is likely to double in the next few years.

This entire system of torment and death exists solely for those who consume
animal
products. If it were not for them, no animals would be confined on factory
farms
and no animals would be slaughtered. And nobody in the world would go
hungry.
Not only does using animal products violate the Bible's Prime Directives, it
violates
universal concepts of simple human decency. Why would any person of good
will—regardless of their religion—want to be responsible for so much
innocent
suffering and death?

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